Category Archives: giveaways

2020 Seed Giveaway!

09 Thursday Jan 2020

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Time to wake up the blog again!

I know: it’s been a long time. What can I say: writing and gardening got in the way. I won a Proper Award from the Garden Media Guild, for a year-long series I did in 2018 for the RHS magazine The Garden all about gardening without plastic: a cause that is now so close to my heart that I set up a whole website dedicated to it (with an equally neglected but soon-to-be-revived blog) at http://www.gardeningwithoutplastic.com.

Carol Klein on the left, Julia Boulton (Beth Chatto’s granddaughter) on the right, and some garden writer or other in the middle

I have raised a lot of vegetables, written another series for BBC Gardeners’ World magazine about growing food for your family (another cause that’s close to my heart) and seen my eldest daughter off to university in Newcastle.

I have gained a cat and lost 12 sheep: last year I sold my beloved flock of rare breed Dorset Down ewes, mainly because I really couldn’t justify producing that much meat when there are now only two of us to eat it and we’re mostly vegetarian anyway. They went to a very nice man in Dorset where they now live in splendid luxury in a little paddock where they are fussed over by all who pass.

You lookin’ at me?

But now it is the start of a new decade and I am feeling the itch to record what I am up to in the garden again. There is much to talk about: a rewilding project, rebuilding the chicken run in preparation for restocking after a couple of years’ break, experiments with exotic vegetables from far-off climes…

But first things first: before you bring in the new, it’s out with the old, and I’m having a big clear-out. As a garden writer I accumulate a lot of packets of seeds. Though I try to sow as many as I can myself, inevitably there are some left over.

I’ve done one of these seed giveaways before but not for a while now. So the stash has grown to epic proportions. Time for a bit of a declutter, I think.

Here are the rules:

  1. Make a donation of at least £5 to my JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/seedgiveaway2020 in aid of Plantlife, a charity which works quietly but tirelessly saving rarities like wild orchids, persuading councils to stop flaying the wildflowers from our road verges in the name of neatness, and generally campaigning for us all to be a little kinder to the natural world around us.
  2. Choose up to five packets of seed from the list below
  3. Let me know which ones you’ve picked, plus your postal address, via email at sally(dot)nex(at)btinternet(dot)com
  4. Once you have received your seeds, get planting!

List of available seeds (I will update this as we go along):

  • Asparagus ‘Mary Washington’
  • Basil (green) (3 packs)
  • Basil ‘Red Leaved’
  • Beetroot ‘Rainbow Beet’
  • Broad bean ‘Crimson Flowered’
  • Broccoli ‘Early Purple Sprouting’
  • Broccoli ‘Romanesco’
  • Brussels Sprout ‘Brodie F1’
  • Brussels Sprout ‘Evesham Special’
  • Calendula
  • Carrot ‘Autumn King’
  • Carrot ‘Chantenay’ (2 packs)
  • Carrot ‘Nantes’
  • Cauliflower ‘All the Year Round’ (4 packs)
  • Cauliflower ‘Amsterdam’
  • Celeriac ‘Monarch’
  • Celery ‘Giant Red’
  • Celery ‘Solid Pink’ (Heritage Seed Library)
  • Chives
  • Courgette
  • Courgette ‘All Green Bush’
  • Cress (2 packs)
  • Dill
  • Fennel ‘Di Firenze’
  • Foxglove ‘Apricot’
  • Kale ‘Nero di Toscana’
  • Leek ‘Autumn Giant 2’
  • Leek ‘Lyon 2’
  • Marrow ‘Long White Trailing’ (Heritage Seed Library)
  • Mustard (for windowsills)
  • Onion ‘Ailsa Craig’
  • Onion ‘Bedfordshire Champion’
  • Onion ‘Red Baron’ (2 packs)
  • Oregano (2 packs)
  • Parsnip ‘White Gem’ (4 packs)
  • Pepper ‘Asti Red’Pepper ‘Friggitello’
  • Pepper ‘Corno di Toro Rosso’
  • Pepper ‘Skinny’ (Heritage Seed Library – dwarf bird chilli, tiny but very hot!)
  • Poppy ‘Flanders’
  • Radish ‘Albena’
  • Radish ‘Blue Moon and Red Moon’
  • Radish ‘Cherry Belle’
  • Radish ‘French Breakfast’ (2 packs)
  • Rocket
  • Runner bean ‘Scarlet Emperor’
  • Sorrel Red Veined
  • Spring cabbage ‘April’ (2 packs)
  • Spring cabbage ‘Greyhound’
  • Spring onion ‘White Lisbon’
  • Summer cabbage ‘Golden Acre’
  • Thyme
  • Tomato ‘Gardeners Delight’ (4 packs)
  • Tomato ‘Ildi’
  • Tomato ‘Moneymaker’ (2 packs)
  • Tomato ‘Red Cherry’ (2 packs)
  • Tomato ‘Red Pear’
  • Tomato ‘Super Mama’
  • Watercress ‘Aqua’
  • Winter cabbage ‘January King’

All seeds are in date and in a sealed packet ready to go. This giveaway will run until the end of January (or longer if it’s still going strong beyond that point). Enjoy!

Seed swap 2017

26 Thursday Jan 2017

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homesavedseed

I do like a good seed swap.

It’s a simple idea: you take your spares along to your local village hall, or wherever the swap is taking place, and offload them to someone who can make better use of them than you can.

Then you browse around what everyone else has brought and take your pick. Everyone’s a winner.

Seed swaps started in Brighton, where the biggest, Seedy Sunday, still takes place: this year’s is on 5th February so if you’re in the area, do pop in.

But the idea has caught on, and now seed swaps are held all over the country. You’ll have to Google your local venue – there used to be a listings page on the Seedy Sunday website but it doesn’t seem to be active these days – but they’re not difficult to find.

Or, of course, you can just stay right here. Because I have been clearing out my seed boxes in a fit of efficiency and have set aside an exceptionally large pile of seeds which I know I’m not going to get around to sowing this year.

Last time I did this we had a few Royal Mail related issues with the SAE system, so I’ve changed the way things work a little. Most importantly, I’ve decided that instead of asking everyone to pay postage, I will instead ask you to donate the money to the Greenfingers charity, which in case you haven’t heard of it plants gardens for children and their families spending time in hospices all around the country.

So as long as I get the email with your address you should get your seeds in the post asap with no hitches!

Please follow the instructions carefully:

  1. Choose your seeds from the list below: maximum 10 packets per person please.
  2. Post in the comments section so I know who wants what and can update the list so everyone else knows what is left. This is first come first served, so read earlier comments to make sure your seeds haven’t been bagged already.
  3. Visit my JustGiving page and make a donation of at least £1.
  4. Email me your address with your full name (so I can match you with your JustGiving donation) and what you’ve ordered to sally(dot)nex(at)btinternet(dot)com so I can send you your seeds!

Here’s the list:

(seeds are no more than 2 years old; *=opened packet, but still with a good quantity of seeds in it; **=home-saved seeds so can’t guarantee germination, though all seeds have been kept in cool dry conditions)

Artichoke ‘Purple and Green’ x 2 packs
*Artichoke ‘Purple de Provence’
Aubergine ‘Black Beauty’ x 2 packs
Begonia ‘Bada Bing Pretty Mix’
Beetroot ‘Boldor’ (yellow)
**Borlotti bean ‘Firetongue’
Broccoli raab ’60 Days’
Cabbages – mixed pack of three, Sir, Attraction and Minicole
Cabbage ‘Golden Acre’
Cabbage ‘Gunma’
Calabrese ‘Ironman’
Calabrese ‘Sibsey’
Campanula carpatica ‘Blue’
Cauliflower ‘All the Year Round’
Celery ‘Giant Red’
*Chickpea ‘Principe’
Courgette ‘Black Forest’
*Cucamelon
Cucumber ‘White Wonder
Gherkin ‘Diamant’
Green manure Caliente Mustard
*Hibiscus ‘Simply Love’
*Ipomoea pennata
Kale Duo Mix – ‘Emerald Ice’ & ‘Midnight Sun’
Leaf salad ‘Spicy Oriental Mix’
Leek ‘Bulgaarse Reuzen – Lincoln’
Leek ‘Elefant’
*Leek – mixed varieties, on a seed tape
Mint (small packet)
Mustard (white) ‘Tilney’
Onion ‘Ailsa Craig’
Pea ‘Magnum Bonum’
Pea ‘Maro’ (marrowfat, for mushy peas)
Pepper (sweet) ‘Boneta’
Pepper (sweet) ‘Mini Bell Mixed’
Pepper (sweet) ‘Mixed’
Radish ‘Mooli Mino Early’
Runner bean ‘Prizewinner’
Sorrel ‘Red Veined’
Spinach ‘Samish’
*Spring onion ‘White Lisbon Winter Hardy’
Sweetcorn ‘Amaize’
Tagetes (French marigold) ‘Alumia Vanilla Cream’
Tomato ‘Apero’
Tomato ‘Montello’ (bush)
Tomato ‘Red Cherry’ x 2 packs
Tomato ‘Red Pear’
Tomato ‘Super Sweet 100’
Tomato ‘Sweet Aperitif’ x 2 packs
Tomato ‘Tigerella’
Viola ‘Bunny Ears’
Viola tricolor ‘Bowles Black’
Watercress ‘Aqua’

I will update this page daily as this gets under way, and the swap will run for as long as it takes for all the seeds to go, or for everyone to get a bit bored – whichever comes the sooner! Enjoy 😀

Big Seed Giveaway 2015

06 Sunday Dec 2015

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seeds

While we’re on the subject of seeds…

The imminent arrival of my little package of heritage seeds from the HSL has prompted me to have my annual clear-out.

I do this every year: the routine goes 1) throw out any seed packets more than two years old 2) throw out carrot and parsnip seed regardless (I buy these in fresh each year – better germination rates) 3) put aside seeds to give or swap with other gardeners.

And then of course 4) go get loads more seed!

Since I’ve now reached stage 3, and it’s coming up to Christmas which seems a nice time to start giving people stuff, I thought it was about time I revived the annual CG Big Seed Giveaway (last held in 2013 when I was still sane and my schedule hadn’t been hijacked by 48,000 words and a book publisher).

So first come, first served: get your free seeds here!

Here’s what’s available this year:

Aubergine ‘Black Beauty’
Beetroot ‘Boldor’ (yellow-fleshed)
Broccoli raab ’60 Days’
Buddleja ‘Butterfly Hybrids’
Cabbage ‘Greyhound’
Cauliflower ‘All the Year Round’
Cauliflower ‘Romanescu natalino’
Chilli pepper ‘Bhut Jolokia’
Chilli pepper ‘Ember Explosive’
Chilli pepper ‘Hotscotch’
Chilli pepper ‘Rocoto’
Cornflower ‘Black Ball’
Cucumber ‘White Wonder’
Dill
Eryngium planum ‘Blue Hobbit’
Fennel ‘Di Firenze’
New Zealand spinach
Poppy ‘Ladybird’
Radish ‘Mooli Mino Early’
Sorrel ‘Red Veined’
Strawberry ‘Baron Solemacher’
Tomato ‘Artisan TM – Bumble Bee Mixed’
Tomato ‘Baby Pink Plum’
Tomato ‘Indigo Rose’
Tomato ‘Rosella’
White mustard ‘Tilney’
Zinnia ‘Hot Mix’

How to claim your free seeds:

  • comment below giving the names of the seeds you want
  • then send an email to sally dot nex at btinternet dot com confirming your request and giving me an address to send your seeds to. I will reply giving you an address to which you’ll need to send a stamped, self-addressed envelope
  • I’ll update this post regularly giving details of what’s gone and what’s left
  • the giveaway will last for two weeks, until Monday 21 December: follow me on Twitter (@sallynex) for updates. Any seed not taken at the end of the two weeks will be… well, not sure yet, but I’ll find a use for them!
  • if you enjoy growing your seeds, please blog about them later in the year if you can!

Rules:

  • no more than 5 packets of seed per person.
  • first to place their order in the comments below gets the seed (no orders via Twitter accepted – you can only order in the comments below so everyone can see your seed has been taken)
  • if I don’t receive your SAE within a week your seeds will be re-offered
  • sorry but the offer is only open to UK respondents

Gardeners’ World Live tickets up for grabs!

27 Wednesday May 2015

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GWL-logo---RHS-and-Lexus-must-not-be-cropped-out

Missing Chelsea yet?

I know I am. Luckily Chelsea isn’t the end of the story: there’s a whole summer of shows ahead of us yet to come, including the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show (at which this year – cue slight panic attack – I will be a speaker) and RHS Tatton Park Flower Show in August.

But much sooner than all that, in just two weeks’ time in fact, there’s BBC Gardeners’ World Live, up at the NEC Birmingham, starting 11 June and running on till 14 June and quite the busiest show I’ve ever been to. Show gardens a go-go, a huge floral marquee, advice from the RHS and entertainment from the presenters of BBC Gardeners’ World. And it’s a two-in-one show as well, as you get free entry into the BBC Good Food Summer event too. Get there early and reckon on staying till they chuck you out.

And guess what: I’ve got a couple of tickets to give away, free, gratis and for nothing. Now there’s the perfect antidote to those post-Chelsea blues!

All you have to do is post below or retweet my tweets about this competition (you’ll find them at @sallynex) by midnight GMT on 31st May and it’s first name out of the hat on June 1st. Couldn’t be simpler 😀

Good luck!

Rules:
– entries from UK residents only please
– all retweets and comments made below by 00:00 (midnight) GMT on 31st May will be eligible to win
– winning name picked by someone who knows not a single one of you (i.e. my 13-year-old daughter) on 1st June and notified on Twitter and as a post script on this blog
– the prize will be a pair of tickets for BBC Gardeners’ World Live at the NEC Birmingham
– please make sure you check back here or make it clear how I can contact you to let you know if you’ve won!

Think that’s it – any questions, post below…

**STOP PRESS**

And the winner is…. Sharon, aka @happymouffetard! Congratulations Sharon, and thank you to all the other entries made via retweets on Twitter. Another giveaway follows next month so keep your eyes peeled…